Date:30/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/30/stories/2008083056511200.htm

National

I expect clean waiver: Kakodkar

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: India on Friday said it expected the Nuclear Suppliers Group to give it a clean waiver when the 45-nation body meets next month to consider its case for an exemption.

Speaking to journalists here, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said India expected no provision to be attached other than what was mentioned in the July 18, 2005 joint statement by U.S. President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Calling himself a realist, Dr. Kakodkar rated high India’s chances of getting an exemption from the NSG guidelines to break its over three decades isolation from global nuclear commerce. “I expect a clean waiver without any preconditions,” said the nuclear scientist, who has been closely associated with the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal.